Does it Ring a Bell?https://doesitringabell.wordpress.com
My experience with the term "service"..Tue, 26 Sep 2017 21:35:00 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngDoes it Ring a Bell?https://doesitringabell.wordpress.com
A beach Resort or a Wedding Venue?https://doesitringabell.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/a-beach-resort-or-a-wedding-venue/
https://doesitringabell.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/a-beach-resort-or-a-wedding-venue/#commentsMon, 29 Aug 2011 10:06:42 +0000http://doesitringabell.wordpress.com/?p=95]]>

No Place ;-(

Hello friends … I miss talking to you! I took a small break in order to start a new fresh and vibrant season. Hope you all are doing fine and in good mental and physical health.

When on vacation, you go to the beach, so, under the hot summer sun, we headed to a beach resort in Byblos area. It was a weekday and the fee was relatively low, compared with the others resorts, which sounded like a promising start for the day, until the latter chain of events followed.

At the reception our bags were searched and to our surprise the reason was not to make sure we were not carrying weapons BUT to make sure we don’t have food and beverage! So I had a bottle of water almost empty that the guards removed it and wanted to throw although I argued to keep it and promised him that we will be buying a new one from the resort, in vain! I agree that excesses need to be controlled, and that the visitors should be prevented from bringing in their own food, but come on, a half empty small bottle of water….! What about special cases or people on a special diet, what would happen to those…?

After having been thoroughly searched, we quickly arrived to a nice pool just past the reception, and as we wanted to enter, a nice young hostess stopped us:

Hostess: ”hello sirs, would you like to sit in the pool area?”….

Us: “yes, please.”

Hostess: “you need to pay an extra fee for the bed”

Us: “but we already paid the entrance!”

Hostess:” yes but to sit in this area you need to pay an additional fee”

Us:” if we don’t want to sit here where can we go please.”

Hostess: “you can sit either on the sand or we have another pool area you just need to walk 10 minutes (in fact 15) to arrive to the next one.”

We decided decided to check the other pool area that was indicated by the hostess. We took the long walk and to our surprise the “free” pool area was full, so we smiled at each other and headed back to the original “paying” pool, paid the additional fee and set for a long beautiful afternoon in the sun.

As I was preparing myself to swim, I saw a men swimming with his clothes on, T- Shirt and swimming suit! Come on!!!!! Guys this is not acceptable! Naturally no one from the beach resort even gave him the slightness remark… I believe he was a big spender!

As we were sitting we saw on our left a group of youngsters holding their wines glasses in the pool dancing, and of course, dropping wine in the pool and on top of it, smoking and throwing the ashes in the pool! OMGGG!! Talk about hygiene…

Notwithstanding the curious ambiance, I was decided to enjoy my day, so I booked myself a relaxing message which by the way was amazing! I came back so fresh and happy! When my friend told me: “Guess what, the hostess just came and told us that we need to leave by 5 p.m, because they are preparing a wedding reception!”

Wedding preperations

Yes we were all furious, along with the other persons on the pool, yes we told her that we arrived at 2 p.m…. and yes we told her that she should have told us from the beginning of this ‘time limitation’ not after we paid but the poor hostess seemed helpless!

After a small disappearance of 15mn, she came back, after everyone was irritated, to announce to us proudly the big news: “I talked with the management, you can stay until 5: 30 p.m.”!!!

But even the management did not keep its promise, because as soon as it turned 5pm, the workers started bringing chairs, tables, plates etc… and placing them around us… they started removing the empty beds around the pool… I can’t describe to you the situation; it was as if you were sitting in a restaurant during the setting of the tables!

So at that moment, enough of being positive! We decided to leave! And swore never to come back!

I think that, as a customer of the beach resort, it is only reasonable to expect that I can benefit from the (extra) paid services all day! And, as this beach resort did not decide yet on whether its core business is a wedding venue or a real swimming and spa resort, the customers should not the victims of this contradiction!

A year ago… a month ago… a week ago… and again yesterday the Hazmieh- Damascus highway road has been closed again to the circulation!!! Can you imagine! A highway, a vital road between major areas in Lebanon closed to the circulation! Closed for security reasons, but not the citizens’ security, closed for construction works…

If you live in Baabda/ Hazmieh/ Jamhour region you will immediately understand what I am talking about… you know what? If you live in Lebanon you will immediately get my point!

For almost a year and a half now, we have been suffering in that particular region, from the never ending construction works starting from Sayyad square to Jamhour… a real day to day torture! Extremely bumpy roads, large ditches in the middle of the road, left and right openings so that, when you are driving, you may at any point in time, be surprised by an incoming car surging from a new opening that was not there yesterday or even in the same morning when you left to work. The ‘engineers’ behind this project feel the need to change the direction of the road every couple of days and you are left to discover the new path, I tell you, it isa real jungle out there. In the middle of the road, a large excavation going 50 meters down, see picture below, left totally open without any protection barriers.

Roadblock in the middle of the highway

I am sure the constructor is not respecting any international standard of safety precautions … in 2 words a TOTAL CHAOS! During night time, the lights are completely off and you are left to guess which way to go! …. So far, numerous cars felt in the ditch….. And of course, the only one responsible is the car driver for his poor driving skills!

Good luck

To be honest with you guys, no one seems to have any exact information about this ‘project’; we all speculate: When will it end? What will it look like after (and if) it is completed? No one seems to know…

Isn’t the contractor required by law to protect and serve the drivers and the citizens by applying international safety measures when he is commissioned a project?? Isn’t he obliged to put signs to indicate the path to the driver? A map or something of the sort, to prevent people from guessing??

And in case the contractor fails to do so, isn’t the role of the government or a specific ministry, or the consultants/engineers that have been entrusted with the supervision of the construction works, to come and step down and stop the abuse! Aren’t the politicians, public servants, conscious about these excessive wrongdoings???

If we were talking about a road in some remote area of Lebanon (although this does not excuse the fact), some would have understood that the government has not been made aware of the situation…. But I mean, come on! A highway that is used by thousands of Lebanese every day! An essential road that is used by almost every truck in the country! A path that is used on a daily basis by officials, ministers, ambassadors…!

The government is dealing with this matter, as if it didn’t concern him, as if it was a private construction project executed by a private contractor. As in so many other places, the government seems to totally forget that this is a matter of public service and it’s (the government’s) responsibility to ensure it! But did it go as far as turning completely a blind eye to something that is happening in front of everyone.

I don’t know about you my friends, but sometimes I feel that the government is deliberately delivering a bad public service to the Lebanese to push them out of the country… I know that you have many other –valid- opinions on this matter but this my conspiracy theory!

If you are a daily user of this Jungle road I wish you good luck and try to stay safe!

Does it ring a bell?

]]>https://doesitringabell.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/jungle-road-when-public-service-goes-absent/feed/8joelkhHazmieh Road 2Hazmieh RoadHazmieh Road 3Flight delays, it happens! But do you have an adequate customer service to manage it????https://doesitringabell.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/flight-delays-it-happens-but-do-you-have-an-adequate-customer-service-to-manage-it/
https://doesitringabell.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/flight-delays-it-happens-but-do-you-have-an-adequate-customer-service-to-manage-it/#commentsTue, 26 Jul 2011 07:52:15 +0000http://doesitringabell.wordpress.com/?p=77]]>

Last year we decided to travel to an (almost) neighboring country, a destination that has become particularly popular with the Lebanese for its proximity, attractions and the absence of visa formalities. The smart thing to do in this case was to travel with the national carrier of the country of destination, especially since we were going to take internal flights.

Although there were multiple choices for our internal flight we decided –conservatively- to give ourselves a 3 hours window between the internal flight and the flight back to Beirut. After all, why stress over flight connections!? We were on vacation and we decided to give ourselves plenty of time to check the duty free area for some last shopping.

Upon arrival to the airport we discovered that our internal flight was delayed for a full hour. A good thing that we were cautious in our flight connections, we thought at first… The 1 hour delay became gradually a 2 hour delay: the tension was starting to mount up, with the growing stress of missing the flight back to Beirut. So we went to the carrier’s counter to explain our situation. ”no problem, the other flight will probably be late as well” they said! ‘Probably’ doesn’t cut it, so we remained in the dark. After the below incident I knew why they were sure of the delay in what seemed to be standard procedure with the national airline!

Since we were in the ‘probably’ mode, we started counting the minutes, in the airport lounge, in the plane…. Upon arrival, we started a useless speedy run towards our connecting terminal, to discover that our flight back home, amongst many others, was also delayed by another 45 minutes. Man! Are we lucky or what! Especially when we were looking at the poor passengers going to Abu Dhabi trying to explain -in vain- to the airport police that they will be missing their flight, to which the police seemed indifferent and even aggressive refusing to listen and asking them strictly to stay in line! Under the indifferent eyes of some officials of the national carrier who did not feel the need to intervene! That was weird! And they actually missed their flight!

You know when your flight is late, you tend to choose a seat facing the monitor and keep on staring at it all the time, which will turn to become an obsessive compulsive behavior: we were like a stock broker watching his investments fading away live on the monitor… within 10 minutes, our 45 minutes delay changed into a 2 hours delay, then 3!!! Every while the monitor flashed again and again to announce more bad news….

As the ‘announced’ delay approached the 3 hours and a half, we have had enough; it seemed it was never ending. So we start asking around, searching for someone from the carrier staff to help us. After 10 full minutes someone told us it was past midnight and they probably already left, but you can go to the VIP lounge and ask the stewards.

We went to the national carrier VIP lounge to get what it seems to be a typical VIP treatment; I learned that afterwards when I checked all the bad reviews on the carrier, we walked in two “ladies” who were sitting quietly at the counter, one was staring at her PC and the other filing some documents. “Good evening” we said. No one answered! and here my blood pressure was raising, “Good evening, helloooo!” we said again, as the ‘filing lady’ nodded back to us.

As we started explaining the situation, the “lady” staring at the PC, facing me directly didn’t even bother to look back and the other one”, just answered: ”there is no floor manager. I’m not responsible.”As if she was from another airline. So at this point we said bluntly:” But you are the only people from your airline in the whole airport! what is your problem???” isn’t anyone in charge in this ridiculous airline? We had to endure delay after delay and no one seems to care… no one is trying to do something, it is two in the morning, we are tired and no one seems to be handling this problem…

The “lady” facing the PC – I insist on putting “lady” between quotes since her behavior was far from being ladylike- put her hand on her ears and did a gesture with her face to tell us that she was annoyed!!!!! At this point, I told her: the money from my ticket is paying your salary…you will never enter the EU and that I hate this airline!!

We left at 4 am and landed back home after a 12 hour trip in between airports. I can assure you, my dear readers, that I am far from being the only one that faced a problem with this particular carrier, delays are standard procedure with them. I am considered lucky as I read afterwards, that it took one passenger 3 days to get from London to Singapore with this carrier!

However, what is really shocking in this situation is not the flight delay, as I am sure many of you have had far worse experiences. This national carrier, with global ambitions, has a marketing budget that exceeds the budget of a whole country; it features in its ads the entire football team of England!!! How can they spend so much on ads when they would not care to handle their –recurrent- flight delays in their national airport!

A friend of mine, after reading my posts, told me: “poor you! Why these misfortunes occur to you all the time!! If I were you I would stay home!” we had a good laugh… but it made me think that I need to tell you a story that happened to a friend, a story of which I was an eye witness

It all started that evening when I was out having dinner with the girls; one of my friends Elsa was walking in her new shoes, which she was so proud of, and suddenly broke her heels!! Both of them! Loll… It was truly funny, especially that she said: “Hey girls, be careful there is a step over here!” just to realize afterwards that there were no steps at all, both her heels were just broken… on that night the poor Elsa has been mocked over and over again! Especially that she was bragging all night about her new shoes.

So on Saturday we decide to shop, and pass by the shoe store (where the deficient shoes come from of course) in Hamra, that we shall call Below Basics (a derivation of its real name). Fortunately, the shop owner was in the store, so Elsa told him: “Sir I bought these shoes a month ago, I wore them only 3 times, and the 3rd time the heels broke, so can you please repair them?.” he looked at her ironically, and said:” are you sure you didn’t fall on your knees and broke them!” he sounded like a school teacher …. Then he continued:”we are not a repair shop! We do not have an after sale service!” So she said:” in that case sir, where do you suggest I repair them, I am sure you know someone I can go to for repairs”. He answered, in the most serious way:” You shouldn’t feel that bad, after all they only cost 150$, nothing major! It’s not like you paid 500$.”

At this point I could tell how angry she was, she looked at me and said:” Sir do you see that girl, she is a blogger she will be writing about you in her blog! And you will see how the bad publicity she will create for your shop!” I take this opportunity to say that this blog is not intended to create bad publicity for shops or restaurants or others, rather discussing about good or bad experiences in the service industry J

We turned our backs and left… between you and me I was happy that she thought she will get her revenge through me… I felt important!!!

Is this shoe owner for real! I guess he failed to tell my friend that the $150 pair of shoes will self-destruct on the 3rd time she will wear them. Now seriously, not to mention the bad customer service experience, is a 150$ pair of shoes worth nothing nowadays?? Correct me if I am wrong but we don’t live in the richest country in the world, and we do wake up every morning with a national debt that has exceeded $ 50 billion.

I am deeply sorry but my experience today is not a positive one. Believe me when I tell u that I sincerely wish to write a gratifying customer experience! But honestly nothing of the sort happened to me lately, – and I am not playing the difficult to please- so guys I count on you to share with me your exceptional service stories…

Today I am going to tell you about my last Saturday adventure, my friends and I went to our usual and favorite seafood restaurant, located in the old Byblos bay I am sure you know it, it’s one of the oldest restaurants featuring on its walls celebrities pictures from the seventies and eighties.

We ordered the usual appetizers and of course a great selection of seafood yummiii… while we were happily eating our appetizers, talking, drinking our wine… a young rising celebrity came in, followed by a TV camera crew, she sat exactly on the table next to us, and without even bothering to inform us of their intended plan, the crew started filming her with the camera facing us, so in other words we will practically be showing in the background like all the time!!!

So we called on the waiter:” Sir, we highly prefer not to be in the background, we just want to have a quiet private time, and after all, showing on a reality TV program was not what we had in mind. So can you please try to arrange for another set up like, we don’t know, maybe move them to another table, or simply ask them to point the camera in a different direction?”

The waiter:” oh but I can’t move (or talk to) Miss Celebrity, she is a star! But what I can do is to offer you a different table and you can move, problem solved!”

We were puzzled by his reaction, and felt we were the poor commoners that had to, either endure the VIP or move away!! we respectfully answered “sir, we don’t want to move, we were here first, we are happily seated, we are already eating and it’s our table.”

The waiter:” I am sorry, in that case, I cannot do anything!”

We immediately asked for the bill, he insisted again to move us to a different table; we kindly declined and informed him we are full – although we had just started with the appetizers. To our great shock the bill came including the seafood that was never delivered!!!! They didn’t even care to remove it from the bill as a good will gesture!!!

So today you are appointed as judges in the case of the Commoner versus the VIP Star.

Please be fair in your judgment bearing in mind the right for privacy, the right for the customer whatever his status is to be treated as a VIP ….

A couple of months ago, I decided to lose 5 kilos! So I was referred by a friend to a dietician that we shall call Kristo, in Achrafieh next to Hotel Dieu de France Hospital.

Did you know that dieticians are not doctors!!! I personally didn’t know that. As I walked in I noticed that they are displaying diet food, chocolates bars, powder juice etc., along with price tags on each item!!! I honestly didn’t dare to ask if they are selling this stuff at the “clinic”.

The appointment was at 4: 30, and of course, they let me in at 5:15, noting that I called before going, and got firm assurances that there would be no delay since I was overloaded with work.

The dietician is a very friendly person, young and easy to relate too… but I was not impressed by her technical skills. First, when she explained about the sugar in the fruits I was not convinced, so she decided to convince me through a presentation on Google! I love Google (I use it every day), don’t get me wrong, but shouldn’t I trust more my dietician? Second she took my weight with my clothes on. Third, I have heard about dietician who perform food tolerance tests, but she didn’t seem into that, and her approach was very basic, not personalized and very commercial; yet her fees are the considerate high. I am (now) a firm believer that she repeats the same speech to everyone.

At the end of our friendly meeting, she called her assistant (not a dietician) to fill me in on a diet that I should follow for one week (here is my 1st diet). Afterwards Kristo will be sending me a tailor-made diet, knowing that she didn’t ask any personal questions to be able to prepare a diet JUST FOR ME! But I said to myself that she must know what she is doing, after all she is an expert…

While leaving, the receptionist directly scheduled the follow- up appointment after 1 month and half. I still remember the date April 13!

After 10 days of one first meeting, no one called, so I called them (after all, the first diet was supposed to be valid for one week), and introduced myself and briefed the receptionist that I am waiting for MY DIET as promised! Unexpectedly, the receptionist took the initiative and told me:” no problem you can continue on the same diet.” It was absurd, so I replied:” excuse me but are you a dietician? I prefer that you ask Kristo”. She disappeared for a couple of seconds, and the verdict was of course the same: ”Continue the same diet, and we will be sending you a new one in the coming days.” I don’t want to argue whether she asked Kristo or not, or if this is a usual activity since they are always late. I honestly don’t know.

After 2 days, they called to inform me that my diet is ready (Here is my 2nd diet); I asked them to email it but they insisted that I pass by to the clinic in order to go over it together. I passed by, to my surprise the diet was not ready. After a good 15 minute’ wait, the assistant managed to print a cheap black & white piece of paper, (not tailor-made at all) and handed it over to me! She said “Read it and tell me if you have any questions!” to which I replied:”I will be sitting with kristo To go over the diet, right?” She replied:”no need, I can answer your questions, but read it first.” I asked a couple of questions, nothing major and left. On my way back I was a little bit puzzled and frankly annoyed

On April 11, just 2 days before the famous follow-up appointment, they sent me a reminder SMS. On April 13 the receptionist calls me and said “we regret to inform you that Kristo is sick she can’t see you today, but we will be calling you in a couple of days to reschedule”

Don’t be shocked, but they just never called back. Just like that! They vanished!

My friend tells me, just to tease me that I no longer exist in their database. But think about it, seriously, I am just a number they probably erased me. this same friend went 5 years ago to a dietician just for one time, and since then every year she calls him on his birthday. Can you Imagine!

Maybe kristo has gotten too big to care about individual customers, or maybe they think If you get mad and go away, there will always be another customer right around the corner….

I like to think that no matter how big or small, a company’s first priority is to satisfy its customers…And what Kristo, the assistant and the receptionist don’t know is that I am stuck with my diet, since I don’t know what is the alternative maintenance diet that I should follow, and I don’t want after everything I went through to eat normally and regain weight. In addition I am not very keen to visit a new dietician!

Maybe I should really consider Google to be my new dietician after all kristo is using it as support

A couple of weeks ago we headed to a nice beach resort located in the south of Lebanon, we shall call it Hyperactive Bee for the purpose of this blog. It was not our first time to Hyperactive Bee, as the beach was one of our favorite destinations, known for its good service, relaxed ambiance and excellent location.

Surprisingly the fees were heavily increased this summer, knowing that the Lebanese beach front is public property, anyway this was expected as everything is getting more and more expensive nowadays!

But what was not expected is the following most amazing story; as soon as we picked a place to sit and enjoy the beautiful sea view, the waiter rushed towards us and handed over the menu, WOW! That was fast… Within 5 minutes he came back and asked: “What can I get you?”So we said just give us some time to look at the menu and decide; after exactly 5 more minutes he came back to take the order so we were kind of obligated to order, later we understood that he was marking his territory.

After a while, we spotted a waitress passing by so we ordered 2 lemonades, as soon as the waitress left, the 1st waiter popped- out: ” Sir, I just feel the need to inform you, that you will be getting 2 different bills, one from us and one from that waitress who just served you!”. We were puzzled:” why is that? Aren’t you guys with the same company? After all you are working in the same pool area” we asked, to which the 1st waiter responded: “actually no, we are the new company in charge of serving this pool and they are the old company that is serving the other pools, we are not allowed to go to their territory (!) but they are allowed to come here (!!), in fact their agreement will be over by next year… and one company will be taking over…“ He kept explaining on and on the new ‘business’ arrangements, frankly details we were not interested to know.

We finally interrupted him to say “although this story is weird, but no problem we will keep ordering from both.”We found the whole situation a bit amusing and decided to have fun comparing the two caterers.

It’s no secret that you should keep your customers close. BUT I have never heard that you should keep your competition even closer. If you take it theoretically it’s good for us as customers: we are able to compare food quality & service at the same time; amazing! We decided to play along in what seemed to be a real case study for every marketer!!

But the bad side of it, is that the waiters from each company dealt really badly with the situation which turned quickly out of control and became chaotic and often annoying, the waiters were fighting, teasing each other, commenting badly on each other in front of the customers all day long and fighting over the upcoming orders …

After all, we were going to the beach to relax, read and enjoy the sun, not to listen to all that tension and problems… We decide to leave early, paid two separate bills and kept reflecting on this amazing situation on our way back.

We still love Hyperactive Bee, and we will probably come back. We are just giving the waiters some time to organize the service arrangements: after all, it is good to fight over the customers, but not literally.

Where do I begin to tell this crazy story…. Mmmm.. let me see I’ll take you back 4 months ago ( I promise to make it quick) to my first encounter with this restaurant that I shall call CHEZ E.G.O (trust me guys I am being nice by just naming it Chez E.G.O!)

Some acquaintances suggested that we go have dinner in a new restaurant in town… “The” place to be… so they booked a week ahead and we were informed that we were lucky to find a table that quick! Now I wish we didn’t find a table!

As soon as I entered Chez E.G.O I felt the cold environment, no warmth whatsoever starting with the lighting too impersonal and to continue with the decor combination … very stiff atmosphere… although I should admit that it is a high end decoration and I believe if my experience would have been a good one It would have changed my first impression.

I look at the menu and noticed that the prices are outrageously high, a salad can go up to match a 3 dishes price in a “normal” restaurant.. on top of that the quality of food was not good too much fusion and very sophisticated anyway today the PRICING and the FOOD are not THE problem….

My friend is a wine connoisseur, a cognac taster, a real cocktail lover.. u name it! (I wish he can create his own blog … wishful thinking he is just not into it!) anyway he looked at the wine list and selected a good bottle… as he always takes good care of us!

The waiter/manager/ co- owner came and we shared our choice of wine proudly with him, he looked at us with a condescending attitude and said: your choice of wine is not quiet well! And, may I say, disappointing! I have another bottle that I personally selected A MUST have.

My friend was annoyed and informed him that on a previous occasion we had the same bottle we selected, same year as well, and it was a good one!

The waiter/manager/ co- owner immediately dismissed that remark and insisted to bring the bottle he personally selected…. Here I interfered (I regret now doing so) I told my friend it’s okay it seems he knows what he is talking about it, we need to keep an open mind, so let’s try it! No harm!

And to be honest the bottle waiter/manager/ co- owner selected was not that good… we have tasted a LOT! LOT BETTER!

Of course his patronizing attitude didn’t stop there, at the end of our dinner we asked for a digestive called Aramagnac (a sort of cognac) He brought one that he claimed to be the best, while we knew for a fact that there was one much better from the same brand and we shared with him our humble opinion and of course he dismissed us with his “usual” arrogant/ I know it all attitude…

What a poor customer services skills!

Isn’t it in total contradiction with the basic service concept? Last time I checked good service entails that you respect the preferences of your customers and stay polite, rather than imposing your opinion and dismissing others!

At that point we all were really annoyed because we heavily felt the discomfort of the situation and that our choice was being reduced to a cheap wine/ cognac one L

I wish I can tell you my dear readers that the story ended here but NO! The rudeness continues…

It so happen that a couple of days ago, we were leaving a pub located directly above the Chez E.G.O restaurant waiting for our car; I was with the same friend I looked at the window of Chez E.G.O restaurant and said to my friend you know this place is very rigid it doesn’t amuse me.

And out of the blue…A stranger (we knew later a relative to the owner) was sitting on the bench talking on his phone… looked at me and said: “excuse me what are you saying?” In a very aggressive & condescending tone…

I didn’t answer and turned my back after politely smiling at him, because first I was having a private conversation with my friend and second I didn’t want to make a scene.

He didn’t stop; he repeated: “excuse me I asked you what are you saying?” So this time my friend answered and said: we think that this place is boring.

The nice “gentlemen” replied: “excuse me but we don’t come to a restaurant to have fun! But to eat!”

So my friend said: we ate there and the food was not good!

And here comes the reply of that polite stranger: “ah it shows that you are not a gourmet and you have a cheap taste in food… Chez E.G.O is the best place in Middle east”.

I was so angry at this point that I turned calmly looked at that stranger and told him: it shows sir that you didn’t visit the Middle East, I advise you to do so and I would gladly guide you to good restaurants in the Middle East…

The car came we turned and we went, and of course on our way back home we didn’t stop thinking of how arrogant he is and how insulting these people from Chez E.G.O are…

Just imagine, if he had adopted a different attitude and invited us to the restaurant to try to change our perception & to turn us to loyal customers rather than antagonizing us… when did the service industry consisted of insulting, patronizing and antagonizing your customers to gain their adherence?

We say in the service industry that: Customer Complaint is an Opportunity for Improvement! And as Mr. Bill Gates would say: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”

I would recommend for these people to take: a Handling Complaint Training for BEGINNERS!!!

Does it ring a bell?

P.S: below is a very interesting article about delivering Amazing Service

I went on my day off, presumably to a top- notch travel agency (TA) in the country (Lebanon), trying to organize my summer trip to Greece… This TA featured all over Lebanon unipoles stating Turkey & Greece Best Packages!

Great! The place to go! I went into the TA head office where the receptionist was very friendly. She asked me to wait for 15 minutes and proposed to offer me a cup of coffee… I gladly accepted and started looking around the TA premises, as a true marketer ;-). The branding was really nice; even the sugar pack is branded! The colors are very attractive, the company corporate Values & Principles of the TA are clearly posted: Integrity, Efficiency, Customer service etc…. Bravo! For the marketing Department well done! It gives the customer a feeling of genuine credibility…

I looked again and I’ve been waiting for 30 minutes, I approached the welcoming receptionist and asked her do you think I will be waiting much longer? She said: “ANJAD” SORRY!! for the delay but we were not expecting that the crowded season will come that early. The employees are either on vacation, maternity leave or sick… and only one customer service that can help regarding Greece vacation is working today… but anyway, it shouldn’t take any longer just 5 minutes…

I decided to wait; 5 more minutes won’t hurt anyone! so I went out to refresh my parking ticket and came back while thinking about the receptionist words: “ not prepared!!!!” although your big budget marketing campaign states otherwise … in addition “not expecting the crowded season to come that early” isn’t it the time were people start organizing their trips!!!

10 more minutes the client was done!!!! Halleluiah!!! Halleluiah!!! Halleluiah!!!

I stood up heading to the customer service desk with confidence and relief…. And on my moment of glory, the receptionist stopped me and said: sorry not your turn yet!

I turned back (and here the music in my head stopped like a movie scene) saying Excuse me! but I came before that group. So she answered yes true, but this group took an appointment and they are only here to finalize their paperwork… shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes, “ANJAD” SORRY!!

Now, you can argue that I should have left…yes true but… see it from my point of view, the receptionist said it nicely, and I said to myself that I waited 40 minutes and I really don’t have time to come another day… and it’s paperwork, so just 5 more minutes, come on!!! be cool about it!!!

While I am waiting, and of course the 5 minutes turned to be 15 minutes the receptionist approached me: Ms. I am really sorry but I don’t want to keep you waiting much longer… it seems they have a problem with the ticketing… give me your number I will call you to schedule an appointment….. “ANJAD” SORRY!!

I looked at her shocked! I just couldn’t articulate a word, turned my back and went out….

But can’t describe how frustrated and pissed I was! I waited 55 minutes without being served!!!!!! They have the decency to post their values, “customer service and efficiency”, yet they are not even close!!!!! They spent enormous money on ads, but they don’t keep their promise…. And this bad mood stayed with me for the whole day :-(((((

Although my “ANJAD”SORRY!! Experience was a painful one… but the bright side of it is that it gave me a valid reason to start my blog ;-)))))))))))))))))

This is my first experience in writing a blog… can’t tell you how happy and excited I am. When I first heard of the blogging era, I thought it is something beyond me. I am very outdated & will never be able to get acquainted with it. All I have is an email address and I am not even active on facebook! and to be honest, I was very scared to ask someone about this “thing”… yet I knew that the online stuff are the next BIG THING! and in a couple of years everything else will be called the old way!

Anyhow, thanks to my friend/colleague Assaad (very active in the online community I urge you to visit his blog) I decided to write my first blog today.

Let’s cut to the chase!

My blog will be about the service industry. If you think of it in our day-to- day lives, you are in touch with at least 3 service providers, to name just a few: our coffee shop, the valet parking, the nail dresser, the hairdresser, the car wash, the restaurant (even the delivery service), the travel agency, the bank, the shopping experience, the receptionist… I can go on and on….

Unfortunately, not all our service experiences are a delight, as it should be! On the contrary, if we experienced a pleasant service we will be happily surprised and start telling our friends of our nice experience and recommend the place…

Sometimes, the bad service can get to the point of being offensive, arrogant… you name it! And sometimes, it leaves us with a bad mood all day long and most of the time frustrated because it’s beyond our control and there is nothing we can do about it or we are too ashamed to make a seen…. So through this blog and with your help, we will try to do something to adjust that!

Read my first blog and hope you will like it… I am counting on your comment and feedback and sharing your experience with me, the good and the bad ones…